Florida Governor and U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis filed a motion on Monday asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit Walt Disney Co. filed against him, claiming the company does not have standing to sue him. 

DeSantis, who cited several precedents including a 2023 case the city of Miami filed against him, claims he and another state official, who is also a defendant, are “immune from suit” in his request for a Florida judge to dismiss the suit Disney filed against him in late April.

The company accused DeSantis of a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after Florida state lawmakers passed a bill to curb many of Disney’s benefits from its special tax district, Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). The district has allowed Disney to self-govern the land containing tourist magnet Walt Disney World. 

Disney argued that the state’s move to strip the company’s special tax status was in response to the company’s criticism of the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics by its misnomer — the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, to which DeSantis subsequently responded by calling Disney a “woke corporation.” 

While the district was not completely disbanded, the state government renamed the district to “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District” (CFTOD) and replaced its board with the governor’s allies. Disney tried to override the new board’s jurisdiction by striking agreements with the old RCID leadership, just before the new CFTOD board took over.

The new CFTOD board declared the company’s agreements with RCID leadership void, suing Disney for failing to comply, while DeSantis subsequently signed a bill legally voiding them at the state level. 

The governor’s motion also argues that “any alleged injuries” from the legislation cannot be “traceable to the State Defendants, and enjoining the State Defendants would not provide Disney relief,” since the governor only signed the legislation. 

“When the governor signs a bill, he acts in a legislative, not executive, capacity,” the motion reads, citing an Eleventh Circuit ruling that a plaintiff cannot “challenge a law by suing the legislators who enacted it instead of the officials who execute it.”

The motion also notes that the governor has no control over the new CFTOD board: “His sole connection to CFTOD is his authority to appoint CFTOD’s Board,” the motion reads.  

A spokesperson for Disney had no immediate comment, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

The Journal also noted that the lawsuit will be overseen by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who previously blocked two lawsuits that tried to stop the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

Disney has until late July to file a motion in response.

Whoopi Goldberg blamed the studio audience after she mixed up her words on “The View,” saying during the segment that aired that her mistake was tied directly to something that was said during the commercial break.

Goldberg made the slip, saying “b****es” instead of “beaches” in Monday’s broadcast of the ABC midday talk show – during which she also lamented her own lack of organizational skills in the face of the ongoing writers’ strike.

Goldberg’s struggles began when, after returning from a commercial break, she couldn’t remember which topic she was supposed to talk about about next, in large part due to the fact that she had not numbered the topics on the note cards she had prepared before the show.

“We don’t have writers, so I’m out of order. I write things down and then I don’t know because I don’t number them. So I don’t know what actually is supposed to come next,” she complained, turning to cohost Sara Haines for assistance.

When she finally got back on track, she reintroduced the segment as if nothing had happened. “Welcome back. A poll—” she began and then, after she apparently burped: “Oh, excuse me.”

“A poll of 2,000 adults in the U.K. found that when people travel, cuisine is more important to them than landmarks or b****es … beaches!” she said.

Though Goldberg immediately corrected herself, the damage had already been done. Everyone in the audience – and at the table — burst into laughter, and Goldberg quietly waited for them to stop.

“I’m sorry. It says beaches,” she tried to recover before pointing to the studio audience and proclaiming, “This is y’all’s fault!”

Turning back to the camera, she continued, “And I can’t even tell you why it’s their fault, but we were talking about something else [during the commercial break].”

Goldberg attempted to bring the segment back to the topic at hand, asking the others whether they agreed with the poll and valued food choices when they were traveling: “But do you agree? Is it about the food?” Goldberg asked.

Cohost Ana Navarro wasn’t ready to let the joke go however, answering, “I will travel anywhere for a good bitch.”

Navarro made headlines of her own after Monday’s show, nearly coming to tears in her defense of President Joe Biden, saying that the real story wasn’t the potential corruption but Biden’s unwavering love for his embattled son Hunter Biden.

WATCH:

JUST IN: The View's Ana Navarro is on the verge of tears as she says the big takeaway from the Hunter Biden laptop is the story of a 'father's love.'

This is how the propaganda state media covers for their dear leader.

"The Hunter Biden story, the scandal, the this the that.… pic.twitter.com/A0uvuxynd1

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 26, 2023